Photographer quotes

Try to negotiate? But overall, I'd lean towards breaking the budget - pictures are the one thing that I didn't mind spending a bit extra on as they are the thing that will sit on the mantelpiece, facebook profile, grandmother's wall, etc and last forever.

Also, with regards to your guests, ask them to share their pictures too, so you've the best of both worlds. Dropbox is great, but I used WedPics which has been fab - a phone app and website that you and your guests can all share, and you can order prints from it too. We've yet to receive our professional photographs, but our wedding was three weeks ago and our guests have uploaded over 600 photos to date! I'd definitely recommend it.

Good Luck!

Mrs House

I'd also say bugger the budget and book them. You may find if it's a peak date though that there's little room for manoeuvre. I wouldn't delay either since many of us are already booked for next year. I know my August is pretty much full already.

Believe it or not I was in the same position. We had to wrestle with budgets like every other couple and we simply couldn't get anyone I liked at the budget we had. I did find a photographer who was exactly the style I wanted for my own wedding but like you was a fair margin outside our budget. So after a lot of thought we cut out a couple of things we wanted and threw that money into the photography budget.

I read somewhere that there are two things never to compromise on. Your rings and your photography. Because once the dress is packed away and the cake eaten. Your rings & photographs are the only things you will have left to remember your day by.

^^This! We blew the budget too, but decided we just couldn't settle for less than perfect, because it's how you'll remember your wedding in the years to come.

Our photographer was almost 20% of our budget. We spent much less than average on my dress/his suit, flowers, cake and wedding party outfits to afford it. We LOVE our pictures.

To be honest I wish we'd upped our budget and gone for a different tog. We chose ours because he was fairly cheap (compared to others) and we really liked him. But on the day he ignored our photo list, and after seeing so many other gorgeous photos I feel like ours could have been better. Our photos are nice but not wow.

We settled for one at £750, 200 images on disc... I wish I'd researched more and upped my budget tbh.

After the wedding you have a husband, rings, photographs and memories.

Martin C that's a very good way of putting it, I hadn't thought of it like that. I guess we will book the photographer. It's not like £500 is an insane amount of money in the grand scheme of things. The trouble is we need to penny pinch else where! Well, we saved a bit of money on the venue, and my hairdresser (yes you read that correctly! ) has volunteered to make our cake so that should save a bit... it is very hard not to snowball everything though!

Thanks for all the advice.

I knew exactly who i wanted to do my photos before we even got engaged. hes abit over our budget but my mum is kindly topping our photographer budget up so we can have him.

I think the other thing to consider is the difference in cost per year. For example, I often see brides who think a professional photographer is "too expensive" and so book someone cheaper. But sometimes the difference between a pro and an amateur can be only £300 (eg if you compare half day to full coverage etc)... if the bride lives another 30 years after her wedding then that's only £10 A YEAR difference in price!

You will be given money as gifts on your wedding day, so it's possible you might be able to borrow from a relative and then repay after the wedding.

In answer to your question, all wedding costs are relative to your income. I'd be looking at £1300 to £2000 band as I know my own favourite photographer is available for that.

I have made an appointment to meet the photographer in a couple of weeks' time. I'm pretty sure she's 'the one' as I've done loads of research online but fiancé wants to meet her first to be sure, which is fine by me.

The only thing is I've got a few things like this hanging in the air at the moment and I just want to get things booked! Guess I will just have to be more patient

I think everyone regrets not upping the budget for a photographer on here, well most do?.

Why a two week wait to see her? see her quickly as she might book the date before your meeting.

She's arranged to meet us for lunch, I doubt she'd go to that trouble if she just wanted to give the date away!

Our TOG is about 40% over budget, and it's for only a digital upload, 8 hour package, but the photos are very important to us, and are one of the main things that we want to spend on. I would much rather drive myself to my wedding and use the money saved on our TOG Plus, our TOG has a brilliant reputation, so I have tons of confidence in her.

Don't worry if your TOG just offers a USB, you can create your own album any time after the wedding (and even then they are a damn sight cheaper). So a USB is all you really need

Oh right, I thought for a minute it was you that arranged the meeting that far away?

10% of the total wedding budget is always a great realistic figure to go with.

It's what we used and we love our photos.

There are many reasons why people worry about photography. I see 'forced smiles' used a lot but I sometimes wonder if it's not a generic fear of anything photo related, based in part on some ropey unprofessional pics they've had taken by friends on a night out.

Let be honest, most photos we have of ourselves aren't professional and don't always look great. This doesn't help our self esteem much when it actually comes to having pro photos taken so people put less value on something which, if you find the right photographer, can turn into the most valuable possessions you could own.

It's rare to find people who just can't wait to be in front of the camera which is why there are so many different types, styles and approaches to photography.

We paid £1850 for ours, which is about the same that I charge depending on where in the world I'm needed.

Wedding photos are the thing you have forever so if you can push the budget to get that photographer you really want then you should!

There are lots of other great photographers out there that may be better for your budget if that can't change

https://www.yourperfectweddingphotographer.co.uk/

If you love them, book 'em. People worry about a few hundreds here and there but at the end of the day you'll have those photos for life and really in terms of how long you have the product for, wedding photography is one of the most cost effective parts of a wedding day.